Selling Your Historic Home

Do you own a historic home that you have been thinking about selling?  How this is done on the historic homes market won’t be the same as any other home.  You will need to take a slightly different approach to the sales strategy.  Historic homes aren’t for everyone.  Some people will be nervous about potential upkeep and repairs.  Many will find that the layout, proportions, and lighting of the home aren’t what they’d like them to be.

With that said, you’re looking for a very specific type of buyer of which will require a fairly specific strategy. A lot of the steps are the same, but there are a few critical differences.  Below are some steps to remember for this process.

First off, everything you know about prepping a house for a house for sale may be completely wrong for selling a historic home.  Normally you would make cosmetic repairs and spruce the place up in certain ways.  You might still want to do those things but which ones and how should be considered carefully.  The truth of the matter is that with a historic home, you’ll find a range of buyers no matter what the condition the home is in.  Modernized or excellently maintained homes will appeal to buyers who want to live in a building with history and character but without too much fuss.  All original, distressed, or poorly-modernized homes will appeal to buyers enthusiastic about restoration projects.  The key is to assess which category this particular home falls into, then lean into the features that will appeal to those individuals.  Also, if you do decide that repairs and upgrades are in your buyers’ best interest, make sure you’re working with contractors know how to maintain historical value as they do the work.

Second, get a seller’s inspection.  You want to head off any problems that can tank the sale later.  Find an inspector who has experience with historic buildings, if at all possible.  In addition to finding any problems, they can provide you with information that might inform the true value of this particular property.  Just remember that anything that comes up in the inspection has to be disclosed to the potential buyer(s).  If any serious issues are uncovered, get them taken care of and look for contractors who know historic homes and will take preservation into account.

Thirdly, know the history of the home.  That’s not the usual thing when selling any regular home because in your typical home sale, you’re focused on the future, not the past.  For historic homes, you still want to help buyers see the value and future for them, but they’ll be hungry for historical details, so you need to be prepared with all the good stuff.  If the current owners have a comprehensive history for the property, great – now all you have to do is fact check their work.  If not, you can either do the research yourself or hire it out.  But just to give you an idea as to what you need to cover:

• What is the age and status of the property?
• What are the historical touches that remain?
• What’s the home’s personal story?
• What’s the area’s story?  

Make sure to adjust your pitch to the knowledge & interest of the individual.  If they’re a history professor, don’t bore them with Wikipedia knowledge.  In fact, pick their brain to use on the next guy!

Moving on to the Fourth, you should cast a wide net.  You’ll want to have the house listed with the usual suspects but take a step beyond your comfort zone to attract any buyers who will value the history.  That would include: 

• Local historical societies
• The National Trust for Historic Preservation
• Historical magazines
• Real estate publications that focus on historic or unique properties
• Historical restoration or preservation publications
• An article in your local paper

Fifth, market with all the information, don’t leave anything out.  Fact check and be honest – you don’t want to get caught in any white lies or exaggerated stories.  Some of the details that you’ll always focus on, like home amenities and neighborhood features.  Others are the ones we’ve already mentioned: age, original features, renovations, modernizations, and historical details.  In addition, you should consider: Floor plans with dimensions, Professional photography Historical photos and documents, and any possible tax breaks related to the particular home for sale.

Many agents marketing historic homes find it worthwhile to build a property specific website to house all this information.  This allows for targeting toward a particular audience and point them to the website for additional information.  

In all honesty, with a historic home, it may take a little time to find the right buyer so be sure to have plenty of patience.  However, if you hire the right agent with the appropriate knowledge of the historic homes market and the creative out of the box thinking, they will take care of the majority of the steps mentioned within and having their help will prove to be a more stress-free and somewhat quicker transaction to get to the finish line.  

If you are looking to buy, sell, or have any questions regarding Miami Historic Homes, call 305-986-7041 or fill out the contact form. We would love to connect with your regarding your interest in Historic homes and we specialize in renovating, researching,  purchasing or selling Historic Homes in South Florida.